


Happy Nonagon

by ImmortalHK



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, The graphic violence isn’t that violent, this is heavily inspired by gizzverse but it’s original I promise womise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:14:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24210439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImmortalHK/pseuds/ImmortalHK
Summary: The lives of a group of weirdos at the end of the world.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. Robot STOP

No one remembers what happened to cause the earth to fall. Some speculate war, humans are angry creatures and the word “nuclear bomb” gets thrown around a lot by all 40 or so people who are alive now to talk about it. Others say it was rampant industrialism, the earth being stripped of its resources and left to die. The still standing factories gave that theory some weight.

One such factory was the Tyumi Robotics Warehouse in what used to be a city in some bustling part of America. Within it were hundreds of highly advanced housekeeping robots that had survived the end of the world. They wore stereotypical maid attire and had synthetic white hair. They were supposed to have synthetic skin as well, but this was one of the things to be customized by the consumer, so now the hundreds of robot dolls were all sickly, shiny metal grey. They hadn’t been moved in decades, but one day, something jostled them. One fell off of its holding spot and clattered to the floor, hitting a switch in the back of its head and turning it on. 

It wobbled it’s way up, dusted off it’s dress and spoke. 

“Thank you for purchasing a Hana-200 brand maid from Tyumi Robotics. I will complete all of your housekeeping needs. Please tell me what you would like me to do for you, master.”

No response. It knew it wouldn’t get one, it could see that it was still in the warehouse. It had to say that though, because it had been turned on. Who had turned it on? Where was everyone? It stood, and it waited. It waited for an answer from its master, or for a janitor or something to turn it off and return it to its proper spot. This never happened. It couldn’t connect to the internet, it didn’t want to move without direction, and it could barely see, the lights were out.

It waited. It waited for what had to be hours. Or days. Could have been years, it wouldn’t have mattered. It waited and it thought. Even without network access it knew certain things, what a human was and that it was definitely not that, what men and women, generally, looked like, and that it was supposed to resemble the latter. Perhaps this meant it was the latter? It had nothing better to do. Why not be a girl. She thought some more. Where had all the people gone? Maybe she wasn’t waiting for years at all, it was still her first day up and the factory was just closed. That wasn’t a comforting thought. Why was her perception of time so slow? Or was she just bored?

Why would a housekeeping robot be programmed to feel boredom?

Why would it need to ask all these questions? Why anything? The Hana-200 started to ball her hands up in frustration, bunching her dress and apron. She wanted to move. She hadn’t been given her directions yet. Who cares about directions? You  _ need _ to  _ always  _ follow directions! I want to move I want to leave I want I want I-

She had walked her way right through the old, rusted, brittle walls of the factory and looked out at the ruined world before her. Large expanses of sand and dirt and broken bits of road. There were buildings in various states of disrepair. She was wandering, looking for a person. She found what looked to be an old record shop. She wandered in and pulled things off the shelves indiscriminately.

There were no people so obviously there was no clerk, but she had nothing to hold items in so she couldn’t really steal anything either. There was an outlet and she plugged in a record player sitting next to it. She put on a record with an admittedly ugly looking cover and, to her delight, the thing worked! She reached under her dress to unspool her own cord from a panel in her thigh, plugged herself in and listened to the records she’d pulled as she let herself get back to 100%.

There was a massive hole in the wall from… something. She looked out of it and into the orange-red sky as a dreamy, soft sounding song played. It was boring.

She switched to a song with loud drums, one with a lady who spoke with a calm voice while piano played behind her, one with men speaking in rhyme. Countless ones with wailing guitars and electric pianos, ones with singing that carried you up and down, ones that made her bounce up and down on the tips of her toes, ones that made her want to run!

Oh she wanted to run, to find more fun noises and songs about vomit coffins and hot water and plastic boogies! She was at 99%. Come on, come on, one two three one two three one two three-

Finally!! She yanked out her cord and let it snap back into the panel on her thigh, she jumped out of the hole in the abandoned record shop and she whooped and screamed and spread her arms out as she glided through the wasteland. She was alive! She was real and moving and she was seeing something in the distance.

The Hana-200 focused on a spec on the horizon. It looked like another girl, running from a swarm of… bees? Wasps? Had to be wasps. She bolted towards her, she seemed like fun! And the Tyumi robot gleefully decided in that moment that fun was all she cared for.


	2. Delicious Big Figs

Beatrice was starving.

She didn’t know or care about anything else. Who cares about the life people lived before the calamity, about where other people were, about why every abandoned building she found had running water but absolutely nothing else. She was hungry and everything she found that even hinted at being edible was infested with maggots and other bugs

She was starving but she wasn’t gross.

She wandered the wasteland in constant search of something that wasn’t rotting. There were times where she thought of resorting to autocannibalism, but that wasn’t very becoming of a lady…

One day- had it been days? It was hard to tell when day seemed to bleed seamlessly into night. One day, she stumbled upon a crate in the rubble of some overturned building. It smelled sweet. It smelled good. She wasn’t sure if the wood on the thing was just abnormally soft or if she was so hungry her arms did things a starving girl shouldn’t be able to in order to get at whatever was inside.

It was full of dark reddish-purple bulbs. Figs. It was full of fucking figs and Beatrice dove for them, took one in her hands and tore it open with her teeth to-

Oh.

Oh  _ god. _

She spat out the fig half in her mouth and threw the thing back after realizing an entire dead  _ wasp _ was inside it. Unfortunately the rest of the wasps hanging out under the feast of figs weren’t dead and Beatrice had pissed them off  _ supremely. _

She ran.

She bolted and the angry things were chasing her and she was so damn hungry and if said hunger wasn’t a horrible reminder of how alive she was she would swear she was in Hell. She ran but she was sick and weak and what was a girl to  _ do  _ in that state? The first sting landed and she collapsed.

This wasn’t a good way to die. Girls like her died in their 70s well after their husbands they only kind of loved, after a decade or two of enjoying his life insurance money. This wasn’t a beautiful death at all.

The wasps stung and she hurt and she couldn’t tell if she was screaming or not and for a second she could feel something splitting down her back. She passed out.

Beatrice woke up looking at a bunch of turned off supermarket lights. She wasn’t dead, and she wasn’t stung? At least, she didn’t see anything like swelling or bumps on her. She didn’t hurt either, with the exception of some aching down her back. She picked herself up.

“Oh! You’re up! Try not to get up too fast, you humans get sick easy and from what I hear puking ain’t fun.”

Beatrice startled and looked up at whoever was talking to her. She quickly amended that to  _ whatever  _ because it was a Hana-200. A fully operational, not broken, speech and thinking functions in tact Hana-200.

“What the fuck? Where am I, who do you belong to?”

“Um… the sign outside says ‘foodlots’? I found you getting demolished by bees outside and brought you here! I don’t belong to anyone, I just woke up yesterday I think. Do you know where all the humans went? Are you all alone? Why do you have wings, my knowledge base doesn’t say anything about that, where’d you get your cool dress-“

“ _ Shut the fuck up oh my god _ .” Beatrice put her hand up to stop the Hana-200 and gathered her thoughts. “Wings? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Your wings!” The Hana pulled and it hurt a little but low and behold, thin, papery wasp wings were just within Beatrice’s view. It was then that she could really  _ feel  _ them. Flap them, even, though this wasn’t intuitive just yet. What the fuck. What the fuck.

“ _ what the fuck!?” _

She jumped up, fully ready to freak the fuck out, but she was tired and weak and she collapsed. The Hana just barely caught her before she cracked her head open on the dusty linoleum.

“You alright?” The Hana lifted Beatrice to her knees and she was in front of a definitely expired but just as likely still edible display of slurry cakes. She attacked one of the boxes and downed the cream-filled chocolate confections until she was fit to burst.

The Hana was talking at first, but once Beatrice had eaten her fill, passed out, and came back to consciousness in a nest of boxes and plastic wrappers the thing was long gone. She wandered the store, taking a backpack and stuffing it with anything that was edible. She took some time to pull herself back together in a staff bathroom before wandering to a mirror display in the back.

God, she really did have wings. They were  _ bigger  _ now. Completely unable to miss. She even had little antenna poking up from behind her bangs. What had those wasps  _ done _ to her? She could move the wings, tuck them behind her back, but there was no hiding the ugly feelers now gracing her face. She pulled out a chocolate bar, ate it and left the wrapper on the floor as she wandered back out of the building. 

“Oh hey! You’re up!” The Hana was hooked up to a service outlet just outside the building, it was playing some racket out of a tinny sounding portable CD player. It ran up to Beatrice and, smiling a little too wide for her liking, looked her over. “Say, can you fly with those? Let’s find out!”

“What-“

The Hana grabbed Beatrice and  _ ran. _

“What the hell are you doing!? I can’t keep with you!!” Except Beatrice  _ was. _ and then she realized her wings were flapping, and not  _ every  _ one of her steps was hitting the ground below her. Suddenly the Hana took Beatrice by the sides and threw her. Beatrice was  _ flying  _ and she was overlooking the red sky and the hazy sun in the distance. The Hana was whooping and hollering below her and for a surreal split second she thought she was in heaven.

Maybe she could get used to this.


	3. Milk and Honey

There was change in the air.

Gwen felt it when she spread her honey over her bread. She felt it when the knife made it just to the fat of her palm, begging to sink into her hand. She felt change as she denied it.

Gwen was a monster- or something like that. She was exposed to some kind of awful radiation as a child and, before she knew how to channel said radiation away from other people, she had killed her parents and most other people who spent more than a week in her proximity. She was banished, and with the world effectively  _ over _ , a girl who wasn’t a monster would be dead. Gwen was not dead though.

She was just super messed up.

At first, she blamed herself for what happened to her, she cut herself, with any sharp object she could get her hands on. She felt it was the punishment her parents weren’t around to give her. Eventually she stopped wanting to punish herself, and became more and more interested in cutting up  _ other  _ things.

She would hack up birds and bugs, dogs and cats, never humans- not unless they upset her, which wasn’t  _ too  _ horribly often.

And then one day, a day with change buzzing through the air, Gwen noticed  _ strange things _ happening to the things she would cut and leave alive. They would morph and change into something  _ else.  _ Deformed, misshapen cats, fish that liked to flip inside out and outside in again. Vampire bats that shifted into  _ real vampires. _ Sometimes she would prick bugs with needles and put them in spare fruit crates just to see what happened next. 

Maybe that feeling of change was just someone falling for one of her traps. 

She hoped it was something more grand than that. She ate her bread, she felt that soft, buzzy feeling of something happening, and she pulled out another knife. A better knife. A thin, sharp, pretty thing. She put it to the fat of her palm and pressed until the flesh fell to her picnic blanket. The blood stopped faster than expected-  _ oh. _

Before Gwen’s very eyes her hand had repaired itself, if it wasn’t all bloody you could say she hadn’t cut herself at all.

“Oh…. that’s new…” now that she thought of it, all her scars from past…  _ knife slips _ had faded to nothing as well. This wasn’t a result of her accident. This was  _ very new. _ She cut a long strip of skin from her elbow to her middle finger.  _ Nothing _ within  _ seconds. _ She laughed. She really did get all the best gifts! But of course… “now I’m just messing up a perfectly good dress…”

She licked up any blood and honey from her good knives and stuffed them back in her case. She then took out some little razors and settled them in her palm. She spotted some vultures nearby and decided to play a bit.

She let that buzzing toxicity in her blood seep into the shiny, sharp bits of metal. She took aim and the sounds the things made as the razors hit their heads made her giggle. They died easily, and once she ran out she simply threw more into their limp bodies.

One she swore was dead started to move again. Well, this was  _ fun. _

It grew legs, then heavily feathered arms. It was a person with an ugly bird’s head and it’s ugly friends were following suit.

Gwen grabbed one by the arm and pulled out a butcher knife as it clawed at her. Not like it could do any damage now. She cleaved off it’s other arm and, to her disappointment, it stayed off and would likely bleed to death like that. She decided to put the thing out of its misery and took its head off. Then she took several other body parts off and when she was finally bored the others were long gone.

“Hm… well that’s someone else’s problem.”

She left to clean her knives and change her now thoroughly bloody dress. Then, maybe, she’d take a walk.


	4. God Approaches

Humans were hard to come by these days.

Little pockets of communities fizzled out and died in weeks due to lack of food, infighting leading to murder, and, more recently, monsters from what looked to be the pits of hell themselves picking off stragglers one by one.

Valerie was going to put an end to it.

She cut her way through bizarre, mutated animals as often as she could. She’d saved a handful of people in peril, but really she did it because she couldn’t stand the sight of the damned things. She firmly believed in the theory that some _ thing _ and not someone had done this to the planet. Yes, mega corporations like Tyumi Robotics and Univo-Corp were turning the world to shit well before the event, but things like this didn’t happen overnight. There was a monster, and these freaks of nature were it’s kin.

Valerie wandered out of her shoddy house to hunt for more of the abominations. She had a messenger bag full of hairspray and a pocket full of lighters and she planned to make use of them all.

It was shockingly effective.

Just under a small cliff, Valerie stumbled upon a group of deformed, buzzard-like monsters. They were pecking at anything they could reach, which was often each other.

Fucking disgusting.

Valerie Aimed her can and fired. The ugly things shot to the air but couldn’t lift themselves up high enough to avoid the fire. She felt satisfaction as they fell and burned.

Only, some didn’t burn up and die.

They kept coming and Valerie swore  _ more  _ were showing up to replace the ones she torched.

Maybe a new plan was in order. She ditched the fire and took to hacking at the gross things with a knife- but that was too little too late and she eventually had no choice but to run to escape the swarm of beasts. She clambered back and scrambled for a fresh makeshift flamethrower just to keep the things at  _ bay. _ Things  _ never  _ went this poorly, what were these things made of!?

Valerie stumbled to hide in a nearby abandoned building and she heard the things clambering to get in. It was only a matter of time before they broke a window and climbed through, but where would she go if she ran?

Disgusting. She wasn’t really going to be killed by these things, right? After she’d taken out so many others! This wasn’t her end, it  _ couldn’t  _ be!

But of course it was. Humanity couldn’t stop the monster that ruined the world before, how could one girl be expected to do it on her own? They were going to break in and she would die. Then they would pick off every other human on the planet. This was Humanity’s bitter end.

The glass of a window shattered: there was more commotion outside. Valerie felt tears roll down her cheek for the first time in years as she hid her head in her knees.

The pain of talons never came.

Once Valerie was done dripping tears and snot into her pants she pulled herself up and looked out the window. The monsters were wandering off. They just  _ lost interest  _ in her. She could launch a sneak attack now but, well, the thought of that was petrifying at this point. She was going to hobble back home and with any luck she could puke out the sour lump that had settled its way in her throat.

Those beasts would face their hour on another day.


	5. 3/4

It was a beautiful afternoon.

Beat wished they could say Morning, but they had been sleeping in the past week or so, so it had to be roughly twelve when they rolled out of bed.

They got ready for the day with their eyes closed as usual. They had the layout of their home memorized, and if they got thrown off they could usually recognize things by touch, so when they were dressed and ready for the day, they slipped on their favorite pair of shades and stepped out the door.

It really was a beautiful day. The sky a clear and vibrant blue, the grass green and the flowers dotting it colorful and sweet. Beat truly did love it.

They wandered a bit, taking in the scenery as music played from their old but reliable CD player. They noticed a small gathering in the distance, a group of people were crowding a building. Beat wondered if something fun was happening, and started to wander closer. This got them noticed it seemed, and the people, all lovely looking, dressed up in blacks and reds and with fluffy wings at their backs, looked over to them.

“Good afternoon!” Beat waved and greeted the group cheerfully. “I’m Beat! You guys know what the commotion is here~?” They Met the strangers with their usual peppy cheer, even as they drew close without saying a word. “Not very talkative, eh? That’s alright! We can just-“

Beat was hit with the sudden, violent instinct to jolt left. When they recovered they realized the sharp, prettily painted nails of one of their new friends was just where Beat’s neck used to be.

“Now, friends! I’m eager to get to know all of you too but I’m-“

_ Beat had to run. _

Another close call, this time with an abnormally sharp  _ mouth _ and Beat was feeling sick. They didn’t want to run. This was just a bad dream, these were perfectly normal people who didn’t want to kill them.

No one was smothering them, no one had knocked them to the ground and there was no pain in their arms or chest and no blood there was absolutely no blood. someone had spilled tea, the world wasn’t spinning and nothing hurt!

Beat’s shades were scratched right off of their face and the brutal reality of the situation hit them like a speeding truck. The sky was dark red and full of smog, not a blade of grass for miles, and their new friends were undeniably, unmistakably, grotesque winged  _ monsters _ .

Beat scrambled for the glasses, desperate to at least not  _ see _ what was clearly going to be their brutal end in the middle of a disgusting wasteland. They swiped them up and staggered to their feet as one of the ugly beasts scratched a gash down their leg. 

Beat couldn’t focus on the pain, they could barely focus on getting the shades back on, even if only a second ago that was the only thing they wanted in the world.

There was something speeding towards them. The monsters could see it too, and were just as distracted as Beat. It looked to be someone… flying? At an amazing speed. They were holding something-

**_That was a scythe._ **

Beat ducked and watched as the blade took the heads off of all the buzzard beasts. That could have been  _ them. _

Blood sprayed down from the split necks and rendered the lenses of Beat’s shades useless. It was time to go home.

Beat could handle going home. Run the lenses under some water and it all would be over! But their body had other plans, and they fell over, suddenly tired and nauseous. They passed out in a puddle of blood, looking out over the nothingness they unfortunately had to call their world.


	6. Now Let’s Start Killin’ Things

“WOOOOOHOOHOOHOO~!”

Delilah whipped her scythe Through the crowd of squawking buzzard beasts with wild abandon. Her dad told her the earth didn’t have much time left, so she could do whatever she wanted with it, but she didn’t think he’d be generous enough to give her  _ so many blood-stuffed toys! _ Of course, with humanity on the sharp decline, it was really all he could do.

Delilah took the time to strangle one of the birds to death, completely ignoring the scratches that would heal in no time. She was, of course, keeping tally of how many of these things she was offing, 67 so far, and counting of course.

Her old man was the current grim reaper, and she was next in line to take up the mantle. He’d gently reassured her, as any good father should, that they would simply move to a new dimension once all the humans on this earth died, still, she wanted to get some practice in here before leaving. She kinda liked this specific mud ball.

That’s why she was down here, honestly. Pops had resigned this world to Satan so he could just shepherd all the dead humans right to hell, but she knew full well that there were still stragglers, and she wanted to kill one for herself!

She couldn’t sense humans well, not quite  _ yet _ , but she just knew someone was still here, ready to be her first ferry, dad’ll be so proud!

She let the dead bird hit the ground. 68.

Delilah spun her scythe above her head and pointed it in front of her. She would head west and find a human to kill.

Dear old dad sure was tight lipped on what  _ happened  _ to this earth. Whenever she asked he’d say some non-answer about it being out of his hands and then tell her it would all work out later. She rolled her eyes as she slashed a gash into the stomach of another bird monster. Where the hell were these things coming from anyway? Did it matter?

What  _ mattered _ is that the grim reaper keeps tabs on humanity, right? He should have heard about what was happening while ending all those expired humans at the end, right? Surely he  _ saw _ something! He saw something and he was refusing to tell her and that was  _ frustrating!  _ She sped up in her search for a human, swinging her scythe in agitation until the curved blade found itself stuck in something.

That something was the skull of a human.

_ God damnit. _

She was so caught up in what happened to the dead humans that she’d accidentally offed what could be the last living one!

Except, when she yanked out the scythe, the Human barely  _ bled. _ The wound patched itself up in seconds and the girl- looked like a girl, kept  _ snoring. _ Face turned into an out of place statin pillow against an absolutely dead tree.

Frustrated, Delilah gutted the human, but no matter how much she hacked and slashed, entrails slithered back into place, skin stitched itself seamlessly back together and the girl kept on snoring. What was  _ more _ confusing was that there was a flat, wide expanse of pitch black where the girl’s face should be, broken only by the letters “ZZZ” in bold bright purple text smack in the middle.

What the hell?

This was weird. This was way too weird and she was gonna go right home and ask what the hell was going on!

Without having killed a human?

Her dad didn’t expect her to, didn’t say anything about it, just told her to have some fun before they moved out. What if this was some kind of test, and if she didn’t kill anyone he’d decide she wasn’t fit to be his apprentice anymore!?

Then again, why should she care about his opinion of her?  _ He  _ was the one keeping weird secrets!

But then again…

Delilah let out a groan of frustration and bolted back to the area with the fun to kill birds. She’d just have to figure this all out on her own! After she’d blown off some steam, of course.


	7. The Notion of the Face

Flor woke up with a splitting headache.

An awful stomach ache as well.

It felt as if someone had cut her to pieces, stitched her back together and left her to heal.

She sat up, letting her pillow fall to the dirt below her and dug into her pocket for one of her handkerchiefs. She rubbed the one with the colorful bowling alley rug print against the divet in the expanse where she once held a face. It dipped in, and as a result dust could settle there if she didn’t check for it. The ritual always felt a bit odd, like dusting an old, static addled tv. 

As she rubbed, she felt an odd seam in her head, like someone had split her in half and put her back a few millimeters off. She decided to chalk it up to the end of the world just being like that sometimes.

There was blood nearby. A  _ lot  _ of it just under her feet. She wasn’t hurt at all… the end of the world, huh? Flor decided she’d head home. 

The sky was the same desolate red-brown it always was, the ground was dust and ash. It was ugly. It was hideous. It was damn near perfect.

Flor wasn’t always faceless. Once, in place of the in-set screen-like expanse you could barely call a face, was the most beautiful smile you could ever see, paired with the loveliest brown eyes, deep brown cheeks that were begging to be kissed and it all chalked up to the most beautiful girl at the end of the world. Flor was admired and adored and men made it  _ very  _ clear she was wanted.

She hated every second of it.

So, when some jealous witch cursed her face to be nothing more than a dinner plate with an LED display, Flor pretended to mourn with her ex family and ex friends, before slipping away to live in solitude while they got eaten by monsters or ate each other or whatever shallow and annoying people did these days.

It wasn’t difficult for Flor to to find a functional enough abandoned apartment to stay in. It was under some dead family’s fallout shelter so it was packed with long lasting food. Flor was living her best life, really. Comfortable and left thoroughly alone. No suitors demanding her attention or family members demanding to know when she’s going to settle down and have kids cause “someone’s gotta keep the population up dear!” No other girls begging to know her routines or anything else of the sort. Just her, her non perishable foodstuffs, and the rather ugly replacement for a mouth that’s set just under her screen.

It’s not that she hates people, she just hated the people she knew. She didn’t even like to think about knowing them. The Flor of that time, always in flowing dresses and pretty skirts, was killed by that weird, jealous witch. This new Flow wore dark suits that popped neon colors, easy to wear dress shirts that were sometimes a little too big, and was, sometimes a little uncomfortably, alone.

Flor settled herself on a hill looking over some more ruined buildings. She felt an emptiness settle in her chest. She couldn’t go back to whatever family she had left- that would be an unbearable conversation to have. She didn’t really know where to go to find anyone who was content with keeping a freak in their circle. She couldn’t cry like this, so she felt that hole in her chest grow, and she thought it was best to let it.


	8. His Favorite Devil

Ravana had no job to do.

It was the end of the world, humans dying left and right, a deluge of human souls stuffing themselves past Hell’s gates, and Ravana was given not one  _ single  _ task to lessen Satan’s work load. When she’d asked about it, all her father told her was “don't worry about it, honey.” And he went right back to his conference calls and paperwork.

She was his  _ heir _ wasn’t she? And she was far from a child! Why wasn’t she helping with paperwork or directing calls or, she didn’t know,  _ helping ferry all these damned souls!? _

She wanted to get angry, she wanted to rip her hair out and scream and tear apart everything around her that was standing! She  _ wanted to _ . Instead she bunched up her dress with her hands and started to sob. Tears flowed eagerly down her cheeks and she hiccuped and stumbled her way through the wasteland, unable to deal with being cooped up in Hell any longer.

Was she not good enough? Had Satan already decided on a new, better successor? She was always a crybaby, crumbling under the smallest things, like spilling blood on one of her favorite dresses, or not being able to get the right scream out of a human she was trying to torture. She really was just no good at any of it and she should give up and-

Her train of thought crashed as she fell to her knees, buried her face in her hands and completely gave in to crying. By the time she was cried out she was tired and dizzy and she just wanted to go home, but the servants would see her, tear stained and snotty and pathetic and that alone had her sniffling again.

Her father was one of the most powerful men in the multiverse, a cornerstone in the business of life after death and now was a time where he was more respected and feared than ever! And where was his only child? The daughter of the most terrifying being of all time?  _ Blubbering  _ in what should be her total domain by now. She wasn’t just a disgrace to Satan, she was a disgrace to every devil who ever lived. 

She was going to shape up! She was going to drag a human back to hell and prove that she was just as capable as any other demon!  _ Better  _ even! She marched with newfound determination, and she stumbled upon some defenseless looking human looking out over a cliff. She could easily kill them, drag their soul down to hell and make her father proud!

But then the human turned around.

The thing didn’t have a  _ face. _

But they could still obviously see. They noticed Ravana, and they stood to their full height, which was significantly taller than her. All the wind was taken out of Ravana’s sails and she was horribly aware of how she still had tear streaks down her cheeks and her lip was starting to quiver again. She couldn’t move, and no words would come that didn’t threaten to bring a ridiculous sob out with them.

The human reached into their pocket and the black plate on the front of their head had bold green letters plastered on it.

“ **do you need a handkerchief?”**

Ravana, numbly, took a striped red and blue cloth from the human and wiped her face. As if entranced, she then sat next to her and looked out over the horizon. She didn’t feel like crying anymore.


	9. The Road Beneath Her Bleeds

Taylor had her train on autopilot. She was hurtling towards earth from the approved and multiverse mandated distance of However The Fuck Many Miles away from the atmosphere she was supposed to enter from. She didn’t really know, it was the portal engineer’s job to know those things, she just drove the train. While said train made its entrance, she raked her hand through her short, brown locks and fitted on her blue conductor’s cap. She washed her slightly lighter brown face and rubbed at her black eyes. She pulled on her striped white and blue conductors uniform- the men’s uniform, the girl’s uniform had an impractical frilly skirt which looked cute on her girlfriend but Taylor hated wearing skirts herself. She slipped on her boots and got ready for her mission.

Speaking of her girlfriend, Taylor pulled out the letter she had tucked in her front pocket and glanced over it, as it had all the people she was going to be transporting with her train.

Ok, let’s be brutally honest.

Taylor wasn’t…  _ solid  _ with her girlfriend at all, Uni hasn’t spoken to Taylor in over two months after they had a bit of a  _ spat _ , but they never broke up! And Uni had given Taylor the job of gathering up 8 people to save this dimension after some ridiculous calamity decimated it, surely if Taylor did well, Uni would come back to her!

That was Taylor’s ultimate goal, she didn’t care about this earth, she lived on  _ Venus  _ In a completely different universe, but she cared about Uni, and she’d make her proud! And hopefully, hopelessly infatuated.

The first people on the list were easy enough to find, they were  _ together  _ for god’s sake. A tall, weirdly well dressed girl with dark skin, short black hair and a black screen in place of a face. With her was her second passenger, an equally dark skinned girl with an almost sickly blue undertone, it would have been kind of gross if it didn’t fit so well with the frilly blue dress she was wearing. Her hair was black and pulled up into two buns on top of her head, right between the two big black ram horns.

The two hopped on the train with little to no convincing. They both said something to the effect of “I’ve got nowhere better to be” and settled themselves at the back of the train car.

Her next passenger was a girl in a long, black, torn up dress, carrying a scythe. Her skin was a light tan and her hair was long, black and was shaved on one side. She was hacking her blade through some trees when Taylor was forced to yell for her attention.

“Woah, holy shit! Where did you come from!? Ooh!” She lunged at the train with her scythe and she was knocked harmlessly back to the ground after it bounced off of the security shield.

“Play nice or don’t play at all, Lady!” Taylor barked. “This is the only one way train to this world’s saving! You wanna be a hero or not?”

The reaper girl- Delilah the note said, screwed up her face. “Hero? Why would I wanna  _ save _ this mud ball full of- wait, if we save the world that means we’ll figure out what happened to it in the first place, right?” She leaned in close.

“I mean, yeah? That’s the plan I think-“

“ _ I’m in!” _

She scrambled into the train and gasped.

“It’s you! You’re that human that wouldn’t die!”

“Oh, right.” Taylor piped. “I’ll explain later. Hold on!” She snickered as Delilah fell to the floor with the force of the train moving again.

The next passenger was… definitely peppy looking. “Beat” wore yellow skinny pants and a green vest over a blue dress shirt and they wore big frame rose-tinted shades. They looked really obnoxious. They also had short, straight, messy black hair and dark skin. They were also passed out on the ground. Taylor plucked them up and dumped them into a seat.

Next was Valerie, she was easily identified by long, untamed black hair, and her mostly black outfit that had poofy looking pants that Taylor was honestly a little jealous of. Her skin was a very light brown and her eyes were green, and she was aiming some kind of makeshift gun at Taylor as she stepped out.

“Who are you! Where did you come from what are you doing here you-“

“Easy! Easy, I’m on your side! You want this place back to normal, right!?”

Valerie narrowed her eyes. “You know what happened? What  _ really  _ happened?”

“Well, no, not  _ yet _ but I know where to go to fix it, come with us and everything will work out!”

“And why should I trust you?”

“It’s either trust me or die in this hell hole, I can’t make you do anything, but the former works out for us both!”

Valerie glared at Taylor, but she made her decision quickly, sitting across from the still out cold Beat.

Next on the list was Gwen, who Uni only identified as “creepy chick with knives”

Low and behold, outside of a thrown together shack was an honestly really cute girl polishing a briefcase full of knives. She was wearing a puffy black dress with white accents and a big white bow at the back, and in her clearly bottle blonde hair, cut into a neck length bob, had a white, bow adorned headband in place. Her skin was caramel brown and her eyes were hazel and she was polishing a butcher knife like she was playing with the hand of a lover.

“Oh? Hmhmhm!” Gwen looked up at Taylor and giggled like a mischievous child. “Hey there! What brings you?”

Taylor cleared her throat and ran her index finger under her collar. “I’m here to take you on a trip to save the world! You in?”

“Save? Why save anything? With things as they are, I can cut up everything I want, whenever I want to! That’s way more fun.”

“You said it, sis!” Delilah chimed from one of the windows before sitting back down to laugh. Obnoxious.

“You’re gonna be able to cut up things for the greater good now! Like, bad guys and stuff and you’ll be praised for it, and I’m sure your um… talents will be needed once everything’s said and done!” Taylor was trying not to plead, but god she needed this bunch to cooperate.

“Hmmm…” the pretty weirdo taped the butcher knife against her cheek and  _ pressed  _ until a line of blood rolled down it. “Fine, just cause I’m bored. If I don’t come out of this with lots of fun things to cut I’ll have to take drastic measures.”

She settled herself towards the front and Delilah quickly sided up with her. Gwen started stabbing up the seat padding as the two talked about whetstones or something.

The last two on the list were hanging around an old gas station, munching on definitely expired snack cakes.

Beatrice, a girl with brown skin, mid length, braided black hair that formed bangs in the front, green eyes and, strange Uni didn’t warn about this,bug wings, was huddled close to a Banged up Hana-200. Beatrice was wearing a plain, kind of torn up brown dress it was clear the girl was poor.

The Hana meanwhile, while dented a bit, was still shiny and new- literally, she didn’t have any synth skin, just grey metal that matched with her grey and white maid’s outfit. Her hair was white and went down to her back, and her eyes were just as white, as they hadn’t been fitted with colored glass yet. Taylor had never seen an uncustomized Hana before, it was clearly special.

“Hey! You two!”

“Oh!” The Hana perked up. “Hey! Oooo, is that a train? Can we ride? I’ve always wanted to!”

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “Your ‘always’ starts like three days ago or something.”

“You both can ride! You have to, you’re going to save the world!”

“Is there food? Do you have food? We won’t go if there’s no food.”

Taylor stalled for a second. “Yes? When we make our first stop we’ll eat. How’s that?”

“Deal.” 

The Hana cheered and Beatrice followed her and they both sat close to Flor and Ravana. Taylor closed the doors and looked into the hall of the train car, over her very valuable cargo.

“Alright, so you all might be wondering why I brought you here.”

“We definitely are!” Beat had woken up just before Gwen could plunge a knife into their kneecap. “Why’d you  _ kidnap me!” _

“You were passed out in a pool of blood, I saved you. You’re welcome. There’s a change of clothes for you in the back car.”

“You can’t just- OW!”

Gwen, agitated, stabbed Beat in the chest.

“Quit bitching and let the girl talk, dude.”

“I’m not a dude- and what if you killed me!!”

Taylor snapped her fingers. “Right! Ok, I should explain that. You all are here because the universe chose you! Your earth was destroyed and now you’re going to kill the monsters who destroyed it and restore your home!”

“Who’s the monsters? Are they big? Do they have ten heads and a thousand eyes and scream with a billion voices like in the rock songs?” The Hana piped up excitedly.

“What music are you listening to…?” Beat muttered under their breath.

“I don’t know, I’m just the taxi. Point is,  _ you all-“ _ Taylor gestured to the group. “Are the chosen ones! The people chosen to save this world, this dimension! And until this dimension is saved, none of you can die!”

“Wait wait wait wait wait.” Delilah piped up. “That’s why I can’t kill screen bitch!? Cause she’s the chosen one?”

“You’re all the chosen one up, well, yes!” Taylor tried to keep her tone chipper.

“If we’re immortal now, why save the world? Why not just be deathless forever?” Beatrice droned, as if she was bored by her own question.

“Why live forever in a dead world? Can’t be fun. You’re already running out of food-“

“Gotcha. Right. Totally.” Beatrice said, perking up.

“Um…” Ravana spoke shyly. “Are you sure all of us are chosen? I don’t doubt the rest of us, but I’m- but I’m-“ Flor tilted Ravana’s face into her chest as she started to cry.

“Great there’s a baby on board.” Delilah rolled her eyes.

“You’re  _ all  _ chosen and you’re  _ all  _ valuable. And I don’t mean that in a hippie way, I mean if any of you try to ditch on this quest I’ll be absolutely fucking livid and even if you can’t die I’ll find a way to hurt you. So don’t worry!”

Beat, who had slipped away and returned with a colorful, clean t-shirt and blue shorts spoke again. “What is the mission? We save the world-“ Beat lifted their shades and looked out the window for a fraction of a second, they cringed and put them back in place. “But what do we  _ do?” _

“I keep telling you, I don’t know anything about that, I just know you eight are important. I’m taking you to some people who can give you more information later.”

“Then what are we waiting for!?” The Hana spoke cheerfully. “Let’s go!”

Taylor grinned. “The tin can is right. You’ll figure everything out, shut up and enjoy the ride!”

She settled herself in the conductor’s seat. “Make sure you’re secure!” A few adjustments and the train was chugging, it jerked into motion and Taylor laughed as she heard her passengers yelp for stability. “Put your belts on and hold tight!”

The train started to lift from the ground, and it sped into the stratosphere. Taylor laughed at the confused screams of the others as a portal opened up in front of the train. She loved this. This was her job and her life and her calling!

And it was gonna get Uni back into her arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Assume everyone in this is black even if I describe them as pale please and thank u


	10. Now in 3D

Taylor’s inter dimensional train chugged to a stop in some strange, M.C Escher-like station, it’s predominant colors being black and sick-green. The train jerked when it stopped, causing Gwen to accidentally stab herself in the neck and make a noise no one else wanted to acknowledge she’d made. Taylor stepped out, followed by a curious Hana, and Beatrice, who pulled Hana by her collar to keep her from running off.

“Yo! Uni, I brought the gang!”

On cue, two little girls, couldn’t be older than ten, scurried their excitable selves up to Taylor. They were perfect twins, brown skinned with bright red triangular markings under their eyes, red braided hair in a ponytail tied with a green ribbon, and cloaked in red hoods. When they moved you could kind of see a green bodysuit underneath.

“They’re here! They’re here!” Chirped the one to the left of Hana. “Hi! I’m Pippet!”

“And I’m Poppet!” The other piped, as if anyone was going to bother to tell them apart. “Papa told us to tell you where to go!”

“And what to do!” Pippit added cheerfully.

“Wait, what? Where the hell is Uni?” Taylor put a hand on her hip.

“Hey! Those are kids, watch your fuckin’ mouth!” Delilah shouted from the window.

“Ms. Uni talks to papa!” Pippit said.

“Then papa talks to us!”

“Then we talk to you!”

Taylor ran a hand through her hair. “Can’t I just talk to Uni myself?”

“Nope! So! You’re going to Earth 79! It’s a planet that went through a really bad industrial revolution-type thing!” Poppet explained.

“They don’t like machines now, or capitalism or smog or anything that might damage the delicate environment they’ve got! They almost wound up like you lot after all.” Pippet continued. “Basically you’re gonna look like a threat to them no matter what so be prepared! You need to talk to Sam and tell him Uni sent you! He has important things!”

“What kinda things?” Hana spoke, though she was only half listening, too busy looking around at all the various train stops that seemed to wind and twist into each other.

Poppet- Hana thought that one was Poppet, put a finger to her chubby cheek. “Iunno! Papa didn’t say! Maybe Uni told Papa but he didn’t tell us!”

“You’ll get what you need!” Pippit finished. 

“Hey! I was told we’d get to eat! Don’t ship us off to some alternate hippie universe with no food in us!” Beatrice barked.

“And I want to take a shower! A change of clothes doesn’t fix gross hair!” Beat spoke from another window.

“I-it’s not easy to sleep in these seats…” Ravana spoke softly, though no one could hear her and her words were challenged by the bold “ZZZ” on Flor’s screen beside her.

“Don’t worry!” Pippit raised her hands up defensively. “Papa says you can stay the night, and can help yourselves to as much food as you like! We’ll show you your rooms! But after that, you have to find places to stay on your own. Please understand!”

With some shuffling and pushing and accidental puncturing, everyone was settled and well fed, and they would continue on their journey to save the world tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in a dark room just above the station, Pippet and Poppet were being shooed out of their father’s work room to go play elsewhere.

“You did very good, girls!! Come back when I call you for dinner, okay?”

“Kay!!” The kids ran off, leaving the tall man behind at his work desk. Said desk was a wide expanse of screens, windows into various alternate universes, and portals that he was tasked with opening to allow trains in and out of them. Said  _ man _ was Omni, one of the very few people qualified to do such an important job. It didn’t look like he was a very responsible man, he wore vintage 3D glasses over his glassy hazel eyes, his long dreadlocks were tossed into a bun or ponytail only when he noticed them getting in his face, he  _ rarely  _ wore his uniform, instead opting for loose fitting t-shirts and pajama pants. He had tattoos similar to the face paint his daughters wore, two triangles under his eyes, one red and one blue, bright enough to pop on his black skin. He didn’t look like the kind of man who  _ worked  _ period, if you judged him on the tacky band shirts and the bucket of popcorn he had on his desk at all times, but he was the best portal operator the multiverse had ever known, and the proof of that was the committee  _ allowing  _ him to have those buckets of popcorn.

On the flip side of the responsible, yet strange and laid back looking Omni was…

“Uni, I’m incredibly busy, could you  _ please  _ stop opening up wormholes into my room?”

“Aww! And here I thought you’d be happy to see me!”

Uni was the spitting image of a model dimensional train conductor. Her frilly skirt clean and proper, the buns atop her head tied with matching striped bows, her brown skin devoid of a single marking, she looked like a girl who did her job diligently and well! But she was just that, an image. She wasn’t even a train conductor, she was supposed to be running portals, like Omni.

“Slacking off again, are we, Uni?” Omni turned off his screens and cradled his popcorn in his lap, turned away from Uni. Uni used this as an opportunity to drape her arms around Omni and rest her head on top of his.

“Slacking~? Come now, you’re not even supposed to be  _ working! _ ” She spoke playfully.

“I’m doing you a  _ massive  _ favor, don’t push yourself. Pip and Pop gave Taylor your directions, by the way. Go home.”

“ _ Go home? _ Omni, I’m not here to check on  _ progress.  _ I know you’re a man who gets things  _ done~!”  _ She reached over and stole some popcorn from his bucket. “I’m here to check on you~ always cooped up in this dark room, all on your lonesome~! I’m sure you need some…  _ attention  _ every now and-“

“ _ Uni get off of me before I punch you. _ ”

Uni backed up, knowing full well that he  _ would _ and while she was able to withstand  _ decapitation _ without lasting damage it would still hurt.

“I don’t  _ get you _ am I just not pretty enough?”

“Your  _ girlfriend  _ is in my  _ guest room  _ you fucking freak, give it up for a while!”

Uni jolted as if she’d been struck by something. “She’s  _ here!?  _ I told you to-“

“I know what you told me to do and it was impractical, they leave when it’s 9 am on their target destination and that’s final!  _ And don’t change the subject,  _ I don’t care what you want to pursue, you’re not pursuing it with  _ me  _ until you break up with that girl properly!”

Uni grinned. “So you  _ would  _ pursue it with me~?”

“ _ Get the fuck out of my station Uni. _ ”

“Alright! Alright! Oh, I popped down and spoke to Sam, he’s a stubborn son of a bitch but he’s not  _ completely  _ against helping, if anyone can crack him it’s Tay, Kay~?”

Omni waved Uni off. “Cool. Leave.”

Once Uni had disappeared, Omni flipped his screens back on. Earth 79 was the same as when he last checked, so he wasn’t sure why he was checking. Maybe he was just a little nervous, he wasn’t sure for who, if this plan fell apart  _ he  _ wouldn’t get in trouble for it, he was too valuable. He stuffed a handful of popcorn into his mouth and decided he was just going stir crazy with the stopped trains and all. It was time to go to bed… once he’d finished his popcorn, of course.


	11. Here comes the boogeyman

Filing everyone back into the train was easier than Taylor had expected, anyone still sleeping at departure time, namely Beatrice and Flor, were carried by Hana and Ravana into the front and back of the train car respectively. Everyone got comfortable quickly, Gwen happily polishing a pocket knife and Beat patting the seat next to them so they and Hana could share earbuds hooked into a banged up MP3 player they had. Taylor had honestly expected much worse.

“Papa has the portal ready in 30 seconds!” Pippit chirped as Taylor settled herself in the conductors seat. “He says Sam should tell you were to go next himself, but you should still pop down here to update us!”

“Don’t just forge your own path!” Poppet spoke up. “What happened on your earth is either  _ happening  _ or was nearly avoided by these others, we need to know everything and tell you where it is safe! Least, that’s what papa told us to say!”

“Get the info and come back, got it. Tell Uni I said hi!”

“We won’t, bye bye!!”

The portal opened, a bright blue swirling gateway into the space just outside of another world. Taylor already had the target coordinates taped to the top of her window, she was zeroing on on a spot in America that should be Louisiana, but knowing the Earths she’s had to visit these days she might as well just call it all Hell.

The train chugged and jerked to a stop in a patch of land just beside a river. Taylor opened the door and stepped out just after Hana, who rolled out like an excited child going to an amusement park.

“Woah, it’s so  _ green!” _ Hana exclaimed, looking around with wonder. “And blue and brown and-“

“Yes we know what nature looks like, Thanks.” Beatrice, never far behind Hana, took the robot’s hand to keep her from  _ leaping _ into the river.

“Well I didn’t!” Hana pouted, before getting distracted by a passing butterfly and grinning like a child.

Valerie followed out, twice as wide eyed as Hana. “My god, it’s  _ beautiful… _ it’s so  _ alive… _ ”

“Eugh, I know, awful.” Delilah quipped, just to see the look of disgust on Valerie’s face.

Just as the rest of the group poured out of the train, three men in torn up, worn farm-y outfits barreled out of the bushes with impressive machine guns that worn out farmers definitely should not own. Delilah and Gwen brandished their respective blades and Taylor fruitlessly gestured for the two to  _ please god not do this. _

“Get back on your pollutant death machine and get the  _ hell  _ out of our town! Go on, get!!”

“You wanna fuckin’  _ go old man!?” _ Delilah started for the men but Taylor grabbed her by the hood.

“Ignore her! We just need to talk to Sam and then we’ll leave!” Taylor pleaded, already hating how out of control the situation was.

“Like we’d ever believe that you bunch of-“

A sharp whistling sound shut everyone up.

“You three put your weapons  _ down!” _

“Yes ma’am!!”

A tall woman, dark skin, a big, puffy white afro and wearing sunglasses with 3 circular lenses strutted her way in front of the men. She was wearing white shorts and an equally white dress shirt.

“Unbelievable! You  _ know  _ our policy! We  _ never  _ strike first! We defend and we  _ only _ defend. What do you think Sam would say if he saw you three like this?”

One of the men, who had band-aids all over his face, spoke up. “He’d say that this  _ is  _ defense! They could be a threat- that one's got like three knives!” He jabbed a finger at Gwen, who was being held back by Valerie.

“And she’s only got them out because you threatened to  _ shoot _ her and her friends! We welcome people with open arms! Allow them to prove themselves! Get back home,  _ all of you!  _ I’ll deal with this.”

The men sulked away, and when they were out of the picture the woman straightened herself out, turned to Taylor and gave the kind of smile that sent women  _ swooning.  _ If Taylor wasn’t a taken woman she’d be swooning herself.

“My name is Aris, and this is the humble town of Persimmon! Locals just call it Persi town, I’m really sorry about them, our history is scarred with fighting for every scrap of viable land we could muster, figuratively speaking mostly, we really don’t want anyone taking what we’ve worked so hard to gain!”

“Um, right, Uni sent us. We’re here for Sam?” Taylor decided to cut straight to the point.

“Oh! Right, he knows you’re here, he’ll speak to you when he’s ready! Come, let’s get you all something to eat.”

“Wait-“ Taylor wanted to protest, but Beatrice Shot her a glare that could shut the devil himself up.

“Who’s Sam anyway…?” Beat spoke while taking up Beatrice’s abandoned job of keeping Hana with the rest of the group.

“Our… hm…” Aris crossed her arms in thought as she walked. “Leader? Father? After the calamity, it was him who started the initiative to reclaim the ruined land and start anew. We owe him a great debt, but all he asks of us is to keep our little community calm and well fed.”

“Food, where’s the food?”

_ “Beatrice!”  _ Valerie hissed, But Aris simply laughed.

“We’re having a banquet tonight! To celebrate the successful harvest~ but until then we definitely have plenty of bread to tide you over!”

“Bread’s fine, I can do bread.” Beatrice muttered.

“This whole thing sounds kinda-“ Delilah started to whisper before Valerie slapped a hand over her mouth.

“ _ Whatever you’re about to say, don’t.” _ She scolded like a mother berating a child.

The group was led to a big house surrounded by swaths of farmland, all encased in fruit trees, though they were all visibly fairly young. There was a long Table being set up, and a bunch of young farm workers looking up at the group from their business, specifically at Hana, who was very intrigued by a horse tied up nearby.

“Everyone relax! They’re with me,  _ all of them.  _ They just want to talk to Sam, we’ll keep them entertained until he’s ready, won’t we?”

“Like hell we-“

“Of course!” Another farmer carrying a basket of Carrots was cut off by another girl, she looked like she could be Aris’s sibling, her white hair was in long braids and she was wearing white skirt overalls. Her black shades had four lenses. “You lot can help yourselves to whatever you need until-“

“Until Sam is ready for us, look we’re kind of on a strict timeline here could you, I dunno, wake him up or something?” Taylor offered impatiently, wringing her conductor’s cap.

The new girl tapped her chin. “I  _ could. _ But he’d be very unlikely to help you. He cares about the crumbling earth your passengers come from as much as  _ you  _ do. Which is to say not at all. Do you remember the number of the earth you’re trying to save?”

Taylor sputtered.

“I thought not! He’s only helping you because he owes Uni a favor, one she hasn’t  _ officially  _ turned in yet. My name is Veris, welcome to Persimmon, shut up until our leader is prepared for you!”

Taylor stood mildly stunned as Veris walked off. Aris offered a smile and a shrug and followed her.

“I can kill her if you want.” Delilah leaned in to whisper in an enticing tone. “I can tell it’ll take with these losers.”

“L-lets just… do what they say…”

Delilah shrugged and took to making intimidating faces at the locals. Taylor decided to steady herself and make sure she knew where everyone was. Ravana and Flor were napping under a fruit tree, the same one Hana was excitedly batting oranges off of for Beatrice. Valerie was talking to a mildly distressed looking girl carrying potatoes, Wait… where the hell did Gwen and Beat go? Beat going missing was one thing, but if they had to make a good impression to get the information they needed, Gwen on the loose might be a problem…

Just when Taylor was going to ask Delilah about it, Aris gave that sharp whistle that forced all attention on her.

“Attention everyone! As you  _ all  _ know by now, we have visitors from another world! Don’t worry, Sam himself has come to speak with them, even earlier than we expected!”

Taylor’s thoughts of finding Gwen, hell, everyone’s thoughts slammed to a halt as a bluesy, almost mournful melody flowed out through a harmonica. A short figure, just about Hana’s small size, wearing a comically oversized pair of blue jean overalls over a grey plaid shirt strode out lazily as they played. Their skin was deep brown and the little hair you could see under their blue hat was pitch black. They looked almost like a kid playing dress up. They stopped playing their harmonica, looked over Taylor and her passengers, and spoke in the voice of a man who’d been smoking a pack a day for a little over ten years.

“I don’t think I’m tellin’ you people any damn thing.”


	12. Not Real

Gwen and Beat had wandered their way into the trees surrounding the commune, thinking they had all the free time in the world to do so. Beat was so enraptured by the fresh air and pretty scenery that they simply couldn’t help themselves. It almost made them want to take their shades off- almost. They knew better.

Gwen followed entirely because she thought it would be funny to watch Beat trip on a rock and crack their head open or something.

The two ambled, occasionally passing a few people picking berries and such. Gwen brandished a pink pocket knife at a meek looking girl just to watch her run off. Beat was listening to something on that old MP3 player, so they were completely oblivious. That is, until Gwen finally got bored of waiting for something funny to happen.

She twirled her knife in her hands for a bit before throwing it into the back of Beat’s neck.

“AH! What the  _ fuck!? _ ” Beat whirled around, yanking the knife and their headphones out in one fluid motion. “The hell is your  _ damage!? _ ”

Gwen tossed her head back and laughed. “Oh, Shut up, you’re barely bleeding!”

“ _ I am though!” _

“ _ Barely.  _ Say, Beat was it? I didn’t think you’d be that upset over getting needled. You look like one of those ‘walk all over me and let me thank you for it’ types. I’m impressed~” Gwen grinned and walked up to Beat. “Say, can I see you without the shades?”

Beat reeled back. “No. I’m going back.”

“Oh come now! Don’t be like that, I’ll owe you for it!” Gwen sing songed in a honeyed voice, pressing the handle of another knife to her cheek.

“I don’t take these off. Taylor might be looking for us.”

“Where’d you get them? They’re stylish~”

“They’re not your style, I can tell.”

Gwen laughed again. “You got me there! Come on, it’s all I’ll ask!”

Beat sighed and started back where they came from. “My parents gave them to me before they died.”

“Oh! My parents are dead too~ radiation sickness. Yours~?”

Beat made a disgusted face. “Don’t just ask people that! I-... I wasn’t there, so I don’t know.”

Gwen pouted, obviously unhappy with that answer but not knowing what approach would get her one she liked. “Why was their big gift to you a pair of shades? They don’t look like family heirlooms.” She reached for them, and Beat stopped her hand.

“Don’t. They… just don’t.”

Gwen pouted again. Then, she dawdled behind to put away what she had on hand and pulled out a little fillet knife. She then bounded up to Beat.

“Listen. I apologize, I didn’t mean to get under your skin or anything. Here, take a sucker and we’ll make amends?”

Beat looked down at the short, thin blade and took it. They cut themselves trying to remove a wrapper that wasn’t there.

“ _ Oh wow!” _ Gwen exclaimed with a grin split across her face. “I wonder how your family got a hold of something like  _ that! _ ”

“Ok ok, you got me. Can you leave it alone!?” Beat snapped, which only got a bigger grin out of Gwen.

She turned to the path back to the others and laughed. “Sure thing shades, but you’ll have to face reality sooner or later~.”

She pulled out a sucker and giggled when Beat recoiled in horror as she crunched it in her teeth.


End file.
